Steven Spielberg: ‘Ready Player One’ won’t have any of my films in it.

When you’re a geek like Ernest Cline, you probably grew up watching films with Steven Spielberg’s name on them. That’s why his book “Ready Player One” heavily references his films. Just don’t expect to see any references to Spielberg’s films in the Spielberg’s film adaptation of Ready Player One.

“The movie won’t have any of my films in it,” Spielberg told Entertainment Weekly. “I’m not putting myself in this movie… They reference so many ‘80s movies. I’m doing the whole pop culture thing. I’m just going to leave myself out of it. I can’t do that. Too self-referential.”

Those that have read the books will know that Back to the Future is a huge part of the story. The Goonies, Indiana Jones, and even the man himself are all referenced in the book as well. All of these films are produced or directed by Steven Spielberg. Does this mean that we won’t see things like Parzival riding his DeLorean hybrid through OASIS? Not sure.

So why even make the film at all? As Spielberg told USA Today (via io9), he sees the film as “a crystal ball into exactly what is going to be happening not in 30 or 40 years but in between 5 and 10 years from now, where a virtual world becomes almost like a drug of choice and where we are spending more time in a nonorganic space than we are breathing and eating and interacting in real life.” He continues, “this movie is going to show why it’s interesting not living in the real world but what we’re missing by not. It’s a cautionary tale but it’s also a big rockin’ adventure movie, too.”